A/D BBC Documentaries

Vienna's pivotal role in European history explored, from the Gothic architecture nurtured under the Holy Roman Emperors to the Baroque music, Ottoman aggression, wars, intrigues and decadence shaped by its strategic position.

Using archive footage from the long-running Timewatch series and the BBC in general, the televised evolution of a particular subject is examined each time.

An experimental documentary that explores Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S. and the role this has played in the war in Afghanistan.

Art historians Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke embark upon interesting and unusual cultural city breaks to three cities, seeking out hidden creativity and new ways of enjoying famous sights.

The story of how our world was changed by people we have never heard of, transforming our lives without us realising it had even happened.

Eamonn McCabe celebrates Britain's greatest photographers, sees how science allowed their art to develop, and explores how they have captured our changing lives and country.

Two-part documentary looking at the abolition of slavery in Britain and the extraordinary choice by the government of the day to compensate slave owners for their loss of 'property'.

Dr. Sam Willis narrates and presents this 3 part documentary series about Highwaymen, Pirates and Roques of a bygone era in Britain. We visit some actual sites along the way.

Historian Lucy Worsley reveals how some of the biggest moments in British History are actually a concoction of fibs and stories which have been manipulated by whoever was in power at the time.

A Supersonic Story follows the story of the most glamorous aeroplane ever built - told by the people whose lives she touched. We uncover rare footage telling the forgotten row between the French and British governments over the spelling of Concorde which threatened to derail the whole project.

Simon Reeve heads to Cuba to find a communist country in the middle of a capitalist revolution and asks if the new economic openness could lead to political liberalisation.

Professor Joanna Bourke charts how, over the past five centuries, dentistry has been transformed from a backstreet horror show into a gleaming modern science.

The secret agents that protected Queen Elizabeth from treason for over 40 years, through the execution of Mary Queen of Scots to the death of Queen Elizabeth, the capture of Catholic fugitive John Gerard and the infamous Gunpowder Plot.

British historian Lucy Worsley travels to Russia to investigate the 300-year reign of the Romanov dynasty.

Fry's Planet Word sees Stephen Fry finding out more about linguistic achievements and how our skills for the spoken word have changed. He dissects language in many of its guises.

Genghis Khan, ruthless leader of the Mongols and sovereign over the vastest empire ever ruled by a single man, was both god and devil - not just in the Middle Ages, but for centuries to come.

Bettany Hughes travels to India, Greece and China, profiling Buddha, Socrates and Confucius, the three greatest thinkers of antiquity.

Historian Bettany Hughes retraces the lives of three great thinkers whose ideas shaped the modern world: Karl Marx, Frederick Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud.

After 200 years under lock and key, all the personal papers of one of our most important monarchs are seeing the light of day for the first time. In the first documentary to gain extensive access to the Royal Archives, Robert Hardman sheds fascinating new light on George III, Britain's longest-reigning king.

Interviews with veteran survivors of Soviet prison camps in Siberia, who had been imprisoned for political offences. Also interviewed are former prison guards who remain unrepentant. All this is contrasted with archive footage of Soviet propaganda.

A look at traditional Japanese crafts and craftspeople. Each edition of the series follows the work of those making a culturally important product in the time-honoured way.

In the run up to the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition, J.K. Rowling goes behind the scenes at the British Library to reveal some of the real-life counterparts to her characters.

This is the first UK film biography of the world-renowned Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), whose print 'The Great Wave' is as globally famous as Leonardo's 'Mona Lisa'. With Andy Serkis reading the voice of Hokusai, the film features artists David Hockney and Maggi Hambling and passionate scholars who study, admire and venerate this great Japanese master.